Getting Ready

The past few days have been a flurry of activity with doing loads and loads of laundry, packing for the beach, and finding out Peanut’s sex.  Thursday morning we had the hour long ultrasound that determined Peanut’s sex and anatomy.  Peanut’s anatomy is great from what we could see and they determined that it’s a girl! 

Andy and I have talked many times about names since we started dating 4 years ago.  If Peanut was a boy, we were going to name him Josiah and a girl, Trinity Lynnan.  We’ve recently been contemplating other possibilities although not really wavering from the first name.  Andy’s grandmothers name was Eleanor and I actually like that name a lot.  Andy, not so much.  He came up with Lenore but I don’t really like how it just abruptly ends so we compromised with Lenora.  I don’t know if we’ll actually keep that, but it’s what we’ve decided so far. 

Friday night and most of Saturday was spent grocery shopping for the beach, doing laundry, and packing for our very, very late/early departure.  I think I did a total of 7 loads of laundry on Saturday (a new record for me!).  Craziness…. Everything got packed pretty quickly once everything was folded and together.  I made a list for Kristi for her stuff which definitely helped me.  Sometimes I forget how big she is getting and I don’t necessarily need to pack 2 outfits for everyday that we’ll be there like I did when she was two (especially since there’s a washer and dryer in the condo).  

Yesterday we went to the Salty Dog (the Steeler's bar/restaurant) for the game and to grab lunch.  We got there an hour and half early and there still wasn’t any place to sit!  So we scrappd that idea (although Andy didn’t) and went back to the condo for lunch and relaxtion until Andy got back.   

Really, I was only interested in wings so I wasn’t too upset that we couldn’t stay.  We went to The Marina Deck for dinner which had rave wing reviews.  Andy got the original buffalo wings and I got the marina wings which remind me of Smokey Bones’ Buff-a-Que wings.  They were awesome!!  We went to the boardwalk for a little but the wind was pretty crazy so we spent the remainder of the night at the condo.  

I’m an avid reader which those of you who know me, know this.  I follow Parents and American Baby’s on Twitter.  I especially love many of the articles that Parents shares and often times share them myself.  One of the most recent I read was on making your own baby food.  I am honestly surprised at the ease of doing it and how long the food stays (even without preservatives!).  Since starting TSFL, I have been much more cautious about the foods that my family eats, especially with Trinity on the way.  I mean, I’m not going to lie and say we don’t eat anything with preservatives or is unhealthy but we definitely eat a lot less of those foods.  One of my major concerns right now is the amount of high fructose corn syrup and preservatives are in everyday basic foods.  This is definitely one of the reasons why the Parents article caught my attention.  If I can learn to do these types of things on my own, it’ll not only be more healthy for my baby/family, but it’ll also save us a vast amount of money.  If you’re a parent (or thinking of becoming one) and are on Twitter, I would highly recommend following Parents.  You won’t be sorry! 

Well, I’ve talked your ear off enough for today so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Being excited makes time go slow...

Did you ever notice when you were a kid how time seemed to go soooo slow when you were excited for something?  I have a double whammy this week and I seriously can't believe it's only Tuesday! On Thursday, we're finding out Peanut's sex (so oober excited) and then we leave for the beach on Sunday. Those two things combined are driving me crazy for time to just go faster! Okay, that little rant is over so now on to life...

Kristi is doing great in school. She's now completed 3 full weeks and is absolutely loving it. She was really worried about not having Mrs. Reed this year, but once she met Mrs. Byers at the open house, was really happy. She has since said she loves having Mrs. Byers as her teacher (yay!). I have to say that I was a little concerned as well because of how advanced Kristi is (and no, I'm not one of those parents who thinks their kid is a genius, but she is smarter than the average bear). Her class has almost 30 children this year and I was very concerned about the curriculum not challenging her. I know that public schools cannot cater to every students needs, but I was pleased to say that Kristi's teacher honestly makes an effort to individualize as many things as possible because they do realize that some children are more advanced than others. They have a letter reading system in which Kristi is starting at level L. This includes level 2 books as well as Little Golden Books. Another area of concern for me was spelling. At the end of last year, Kristi got a list of words to work on over the summer for the first grade. She already knew every single word on the list. I found out during open house that most of the kids are on different levels so the spelling lists are tailored as well as is math. I am so happy that we had the chance to experience open house this year because it really put my mind at ease! Kris started homework this week. She has a list of words that needs to be sight-read each night, each list harder than the last. So far, she's only struggled with one word. They're also doing a word list each week of more "grown-up" words and we're encouraged to use them in everyday language. This week's list includes defiantly (oh how we've used that one for awhile now!), harmony, etc. I was very surprised that she could tell me what they all meant in her words! Anyway...

I went to the PTA kick-off earlier this month. I had joined the PTA last year and due to many different circumstances, was unable to attend most of the meetings until like April. I was really hesitant about joining again this year because of my experience with that meeting last year, but wanted to at least go to the first meeting to get a better sense of things. Since Kristi started at SH late, I didn't really get all the information that goes out at the beginning of the year about the PTA. So when I finally got to that meeting in April, they were looking for a chairperson for the talent show. I asked for more information about it like what all was involved and required of the chairperson. (I was really worried about time commitment because of potentially starting a new job and a babysitter.) I don't know if our wires got crossed, but that request for information somehow translated into me volunteering for the venture. I was definitely put off so that was my main reason for hesitating this year. Anyway, I went, got really excited about the upcoming school year and events, and am even contemplating being the committee chair for the fall fundraiser. How much I volunteer is going to solely depend on my next topic.

As far as Take Shape For Life goes, not very much has happened there. I'm not really sure what goes on in my head when it comes to just doing it. I get so excited and ready to move on and then my motivation seems to fizzle. I just don't get it. Is that my heart telling me something or is it me just being lazy? I don't know... I do know that I don't particularly want to work for corporate America (and that truly has nothing to do with my current job because I do enjoy working for RSR) for the rest of my life. I want to be able to enjoy spending time with my family whenever I want and having an income that is sensitive to my lifestyle, not the other way around. That would seem like motivation enough if you ask me, but that's somehow not translating into action. Hm... I do believe much of that comes from fear. I know I stated that in a previous post. Again, I'm just not sure how to get past it. Any suggestions??

Well, that's about all I have time for tonight so until next time... Much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥